This application makes reference to, incorporates the same herein, and claims all benefits accruing under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7119 from seven (7) applications entitled xe2x80x9cHAND OF VARIABLE PITCHxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cAPPARATUS AND METHOD FOR TESTING SEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICE OF RAMBUS HANDLERxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cRAMBUS HANDLERxe2x80x9d, APPARATUS FOR TESTING SEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICE OF TEST HANDLER AND METHOD THEREFOR, APPARATUS FOR TESTING SEMI-CONDUCTOR DEVICE OF TEST HANDLERxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cCONTACT PICKER ASSEMBLY FOR TESTHANDLERxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cRAMBUS HANDLERxe2x80x9d, filed with the Korean Industrial Property Office respectively on Dec. 6, 1999, Dec. 14, 1999, Feb. 7, 2000, Apr. 14, 2000, Apr. 14, 2000, Apr. 14, 2000, and Nov. 10, 2000,and there duly assigned Ser. Nos. 55206/1999, 57612/1999, 5642/2000, 19553/2000, 19554/2000, 19555/2000, and 66867/2000, respectively.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a test handler for testing performance of electronic components such as Integrated Circuits (IC), semiconductor chips, etc., and more particularly to a test handler, a rambus handler, capable of automatically testing Ball Grid Array (BGA) or Chip Size Package (CSP) type semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, complete assemblies of semiconductor devices (hereinafter called devices) are tested for performances. A test handler tests the devices, in a manner that a certain number of devices are conveyed and connected to test heads for testing, and graded, grouped, and stacked according to the test results. Various test handlers are developed for testing the devices of various shapes and types.
Such test handlers are constructed to test the devices generally having electrodes (so-called leads or pins) protruding from an outer surface of a package.
Recently, new types of devices of high-integration such as Ball Grid Array (BGA) or Chip Size Package (CSP) type devices have been mass-produced. The BGA or CSP type devices have an area array arrangement in which a plurality of electrodes are arranged on a lower surface of the package. Due to different electrode arrangement of BGA or CSP type devices, in which the electrodes are arranged on the lower surface of the devices, there is few conventional test handlers which could perform the testing operation upon these devices. Accordingly, there is a growing demand for the proper testing device to test the BGA or CSP type devices.
When testing the devices, also, since the devices have to be in direct contact with sockets of the test heads, it is required that devices be employed in the test device to guide and press the devices at a proper pressure.
In a general test handler, there are different pitches both between user trays for supplying the devices and between device receiving sections of device testing boats. Accordingly, for a higher testing efficiency, while picking-and-placing the devices, it is necessary that the pitches between the devices are adjusted, and further that the picking-and-placing operation includes a process of adsorbing a plurality of devices.
In order to compensate the pitches between the user trays and device receiving sections of the boats, adjusting devices such as a pre-sizer, or a link type adjusting device of a hand has been used to adjust the pitches between picking-and-placing cylinders. In order to further increase the testing efficiency, the hand usually includes eight picking-and-placing cylinders and vacuum pads.
The conventional test handlers, however, have shortcomings as follows: when using the pre-sizer, device picking-and-placing efficiency could hardly be good, and when using the link type adjusting device, cumulative errors between the links hinders precise picking-and-placing operation.
Further, when the testing time is relatively shorter than the picking-and-placing time, there occurs cost inefficiency since the heavily invested test device idles.
The present invention has been made to overcome the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a test handler, i.e., a rambus handler capable of automatically testing rambus type devices such as a Ball Grid Array (BGA) or Chip Size Package (CSP) type devices.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a rambus handler having a displaceable hand which does not incur cumulative error during pitch adjustment between cylinders, and is also capable of handling a plurality of devices in one picking-and-placing operation, thus, reducing picking-and-placing time.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a rambus handler having a means capable of picking and connecting the devices into test sockets in a stable and accurate manner when picking the devices from test chambers for testing.
The above objects are accomplished by a rambus handler according to the present invention, including a user tray stacker for stacking user trays which are loaded with semiconductor devices for testing, positioning the user trays at a device supplying position one by one, positioning empty user trays at a device receiving position where the empty user trays receive test-completed semiconductor devices, and stacking user trays which are loaded with the test-completed semiconductor devices; a device loading portion having double-row displaceable hands for picking up the semiconductor devices from the user trays at the device supplying position and positioning the semiconductor devices in a boat which is at a device loading position; a heating/cooling chamber for heating or cooling the semiconductor devices on the boats according to the test requirements, while de-elevating the boats to a lower outlet, sequentially, by order of boat receipt from the device loading portion through an upper inlet, and discharging the semiconductor devices through a lower outlet; a test chamber for connecting and testing the heated or cooled semiconductor devices in sockets of a test head; a recovering chamber for recovering the temperature of the semiconductor devices to a normal degree, while elevating and discharging the boats through the upper end by order of boat receipt from the test chamber through a lower end of the test chamber; a device sorting portion having a plurality of single-row displaceable hands for picking the test-completed semiconductor devices from the boats by order of boat receipt from the recovering chamber, and stacking the semiconductor devices in a plurality of predetermined areas of a plurality of conveying buffers corresponding to the respective grades of semiconductor devices sorted by the testing results; and a device unloading portion for stacking the semiconductor devices at the conveying buffers in user trays for the respective grades of the semiconductor devices.
The device loading portion includes a double-axis loading robot attached to the double-row displaceable hands for positioning the double-row displaceable hands above the user trays or the device loading position; and a device buffer for temporarily holding spare semiconductor devices.
The device unloading portion includes a boat conveying shaft for moving the boats in a forward and backward direction, i.e., X-direction to a device adsorbing position; two single-axis orthogonal robots for picking up the devices from the boats with a plurality of single-row displaceable hands and positioning the devices to predetermined areas of conveying buffers corresponding to respective grades of the devices which are evaluated according to the test results; and two conveying buffers for carrying the devices from the boats to the device unloading portion.
The device unloading portion is a double-axis unloading robots attached to a pickup hand which is comprised of a plurality of pickup cylinders.
Further, the above-mentioned objects of the present invention will be accomplished by a single and double-row displaceable hands according to the present invention.
The single-row displaceable hand includes a hand frame; a guiding bar disposed on the hand frame; a plurality of pickup blocks inserted by, and slid on the guiding bar; and pickup block pitch adjusting means for varying the pitches between the guiding bar and the plurality of pickup blocks by being elevated or de-elevated with respect to the hand frame.
The pickup block pitch adjusting means includes guiding protrusions protruding from the plurality of pickup blocks; a pitch adjusting plate having a plurality of guiding grooves formed therein for receiving the guiding protrusions, in a manner such that the guiding protrusions at ends of the guiding grooves indicate narrow pitches between the pickup blocks while the guiding protrusions at the opposite ends indicate wider pitches between the pickup blocks; and driving means for elevating and de-elevating the pitch adjusting plate. Here, the guiding protrusions are formed of cam followers. Further, the pickup block pitch adjusting means is mounted on the hand frame and includes elevation guiding means formed on the hand frame for guiding elevation/de-elevation of the pitch adjusting plate. The elevation guiding means includes a linear motion guide (LM guide) disposed on the hand frame; and a linear motion block (LM block) disposed on the pitch adjusting plate.
The pickup blocks are attached to pickup cylinders for picking-and-placing the devices.
Each of the double-row displaceable hands includes a hand frame; a first guiding bar disposed on the hand frame; a plurality of pickup blocks inserted by, and slid on the first guiding bar; first pitch adjusting means for varying the pitches between the first guiding bar and the plurality of pickup blocks by being elevated or de-elevated with respect to the hand frame; width adjusting means mounted on the hand frame; a second guiding bar disposed on the width adjusting means; a plurality of pickup blocks inserted by, and slid on the second guiding bar; and second pitch adjusting means for varying the pitches between the second guiding bar and the plurality of pickup blocks by being elevated or de-elevated with respect to the hand frame.
The first and second pitch adjusting means include guiding protrusions protruding from the plurality of pickup blocks; first and second pitch adjusting plates having a plurality of guiding grooves formed therein for receiving the guiding protrusions in a manner that the guiding protrusions at one ends of the guiding grooves indicate narrow pitches between the pickup blocks while the guiding protrusions at opposite ends of the guiding grooves indicate wider pitches between the pickup blocks; and first and second driving means for elevating or de-elevating the first and second pitch adjusting plates.
The first pitch adjusting means includes first elevation guiding means mounted on the hand frame, for guiding the elevation and de-elevation of the first pitch adjusting plate, and, the second pitch adjusting plate comprises second elevation guiding means mounted on the width adjusting means, for guiding the elevation or de-elevation of the second pitch adjusting plate.
The width adjusting means includes a pneumatic cylinder mounted on the hand frame; a width adjusting bracket connected to an end of a rod of the pneumatic cylinder; a plurality of linear motion blocks mounted on the width adjusting bracket; and a plurality of linear motion guides mounted on the hand frame in a perpendicular relation with respect to the first guiding bar, for guiding the movement of the linear motion block.
The above objects are also accomplished by a rambus handler according to the present invention, having the test chamber including a boat loaded with a plurality of semiconductor devices for testing; a contact picker assembly for picking and directly connecting the semiconductor devices from the boats to the test sockets of the test head; elevating means for vertically moving the contact picker assembly; and boat conveying means for moving the boats so that the contact picker assembly can pick and de-elevate the semiconductor devices from the boats to the test sockets.
The boat is loaded with a plurality of semiconductor devices at the device loading portion, and moved to the initial test position above the test head. The boat has a plurality of device receiving holes and a plurality of piercing holes formed between the device receiving holes. Through the piercing holes of the boat, the contact picker assembly de-elevates to the test sockets and directly connects the devices to the test sockets for testing. Meanwhile, the boat is moved from the initial test position by the boat conveying means across the piercing holes of the boat to a distance corresponding to a half pitch of the device receiving hole.
The contact picker assembly includes an elevating plate connected to the elevating means; a plurality of pickers connected to the elevating plate via a shock absorbing means, and comprised of four rectangular picking members which have vacuum holes; a vacuum pad movably connected to each picker member to adsorb the devices; and a plurality of compression coil springs disposed between each picker member and vacuum pad to elastically support the vacuum pad downward.
The shock absorbing means includes a first shock absorbing plate connected to upper portion of each picker; a second shock absorbing plate connected to the elevating plate corresponding to the first shock absorbing plate; a plurality of connecting bars for connecting the first and second shock absorbing plates in a manner that the first shock absorbing plate is movable with respect to the second shock absorbing plate within a predetermined range; and a plurality of compression coil springs disposed around the plurality of connecting bars for elastically supporting the first shock absorbing plate to the second shock absorbing plate.
The contact picker assembly elevating means includes a motor mounted on an upper portion of a frame which is mounted on the contact picker assembly; a rack bar protruding upright from the upper center portion of the contact picker assembly through the frame, and having a rack engaged with the pinion in a lengthwise direction for moving vertically as the motor operates; and guiding means for guiding the elevation/de-elevation of the contact picker assembly.
The boat conveying means includes a gripping member pivotally disposed adjacent to the boat, for gripping the boat by being selectively inserted in a gripping hole formed on one side of the boat; a pivoting portion for pivoting the gripping member until the gripping member is inserted in the gripping hole; and a driving portion for linearly moving the gripping member which grips the boat by the operation of the pivoting portion.
The pivoting portion includes a pivoting bar for pivotally supporting the gripping member; a pivoting block connected to an end of the pivoting bar; and a pneumatic cylinder for pivoting the pivoting block. The driving portion includes a motor; a ball screw engaged with a shaft of the motor; a ball nut engaged with the ball screw for linearly moving along with the rotational movement of the ball screw; and a connecting member for connecting the ball nut and the pivoting portion.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the test chamber of the rambus handler includes a picking position guiding means for guiding the vacuum pads of the contact picker assembly to accurate positions in the device receiving holes when the contact picker assembly picks the semiconductor devices; de-elevation guiding means for guiding the contact picker assembly when the contact picker assembly de-elevates to connect the semiconductor devices to the test sockets; and connecting guiding means for guiding the vacuum pads of the contact picker assembly to accurate positions in the test sockets when the contact picker assembly connects the semiconductor device to the test sockets.
The picking position guiding means includes first and second slope guiding portions correspondingly formed on left and right sides and on both sides of the device receiving holes of the vacuum pads, for guiding an X-directional movement of the vacuum pads in the device receiving holes; and first and second hard stop contacting portions of a predetermined radius of curvature, correspondingly formed on front and rear sides, and on both sides of the device receiving holes of the vacuum pads, for guiding an Y-directional movement of the vacuum pads in the device receiving holes.
The de-elevation guiding means includes a plurality of pairs of contact guiding pins integrally formed on the contact picker assembly; and a contact guide plate disposed on an upper portion of the test head, the guiding plate having a contact guiding pin holes corresponding to the contact guiding pins.
The connection guiding means includes third slope guiding portions formed on both side walls of the test sockets corresponding to the first slope guiding portions of the vacuum pads, for guiding an X-directional movement of the vacuum pads; and third hard stop contacting portions formed on both sides of the test sockets corresponding to the first hard stop contacting portions of the vacuum pads, for guiding an Y-directional movement of the vacuum pads.